This Blog is about the Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey Team, the Western Hockey League and hockey in general. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Seattle Thunderbirds or their management, or the Western Hockey League or their management.

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Tyler Hunnex - I started/founded/began Let's Go Birds in September of 2007 after feeling like my favorite Junior Hockey team needed more discussion and analysis. I'm statistically minded, forever frustrated by the Tbirds and my all-time favorite player was #10. I think I'm funny and my writing would probably disagree. Follow me on Twitter @TylerHunnex.

Jon Whiting - Jon joined the Let's Go Birds team in the summer of 2013. His passion for the Thunderbirds is as big as any fan I've ever met. His two kids are named after former Tbirds and his favorite all-time players were Patrick Marleau and Olaf "Ole" Kjenstad, who he swears is the best pure scoring Tbird ever.

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3.11.2012

What can I say?

How many times can I write the same things over and over again? Seattle gets hammered by Portland 11-3 last night at Showare Center.

Plain and simple... Seattle is scared of Portland. They have played like they are scared of Portland all season and last night was no different. The Winterhawks did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted to do it, carving up the lack of Seattle defense to the tune of 3 goals in the first 3 minutes of the game. Arguably, Calvin Pickard should have been sharper to start the game but both goals came from players that were completely unmarked. Tough to blame your goaltender when guys come in uncontested.

A huge congratulations to Pickard who become the WHL's all time minutes played leader for goaltenders last night. Pickard has been a true warrior for this franchise and deserves quite a bit better than the team he is being provided with.

I do want to point out that Branden Troock provided one of the highlights of the year as he "bumped" Mac Carruth behind the net and then pummeled Chase De Leo after challenging him to a fight. These are the types of things that makes players a "hockey player". I know that is vague and difficult to define but I believe the first step towards your improvement on the score-sheet starts by doing things the "right way".

Another example: Connor Honey lays a big hit on a Winterhawks player and is immediately challenged by a 19 year old Brad Ross. Does he back down? Hell no... he drops the gloves and takes him on. He may have lost the fight but he had already won the war.

The only good news of the night? Everett beat Victoria 3-0 and that allowed Seattle to stay only 4 points behind Victoria with two games in hand. Those games in hand don't mean very much if you don't win them, it just means that Seattle has 5 more chances for points while Victoria only has 3. The game against Everett tonight has to be considered a must win.

I will be playing in goal about a quarter mile from Showare tonight in a rare 5:15 Sunday game for myself. I'll throw up a game thread later tonight for everyone to discuss after the game.

Yes, 'cause when you are down 6-7 goals because you suck, challenging someone on the other team to a fight means so much. Get real, if they would show some "fight" and work to score goals or stop the other team from scoring, then I'll hand out kudos. Give me the guy on Portland's team that just scored the 4 goals in a win. You can have the T-bird player who can't hit the broad side of a barn with a shot from 2 feet away, but always wants to drop the gloves when his team is down 4-5 goals with no chance for victory. Good hockey priorities there. By the way, The T-birds could have drafted that 4 goal scoring Petan kid...but in his infinite wisdom their GM chose a skinny 6'5" d-man who can't skate, 4th overall too. Genious.

I'd say if the T-birds are drawing an average of 4,200 fans a game then they are doing their part. Maybe the should try booking some other events in that building. While the T-birds were up in Prince George this week, that building sat empty.

I am amazed. The Thunderbirds are not doing their part! The strength of the crowd is due the hockey fans in the area not how talented or good this team is. Attendance levels for this level of play, or not play, is only because that many people in this region loves hockey. The Thunderbirds have been for many years a poor quality WHL team, thanks to the GM, only the love of the hockey fans in this area has supported him and his organization. This team, I can't fault the kids since they were drafted by the team, has no reason to celebrate the crowd levels nor the fans that support them. The support for the Tbirds exists in the past and now because people in Seattle love hockey, regardless how bad, bad, bad it is...bring on the NHL.

Don't drink and type. What a nonsensical rambling statement. When you are averaging 4,200 over the course of 72 games in an arena that seats 6,000, you are doing your part. That's over 2/3rds capacity. It has nothing to do with wins and losses. The ShoWare Center is losing money because they don't book enough dates to fill the rest of the calendar. And maybe the mayor should get real and allow for more adverstising signage in the building. She would rather lose money then have more ads inside the arena because she thinks it would look "tacky"? It's not her arena. It belongs to the citizens of Kent and it's her responsibility to make sure it is profitable, not aesthetically pleasing to her tastes. Go inside Comcast arena and look at all the color and adverstising inside that rink. Then look inside the drab ShoWare Center with its plain white walls. Lifeless.

I really couldn't see how bad it was from my angle in the stands. I thought that #11 might have been selling it a bit at first, but quickly changed my mind after watching him go off the ice.

Also, let's not lose sight of the win on Sunday despite all the rantings above. Good to see the Birds come out and take it to Everett in the OT.

To the 2nd Anonymous, comparing Hauf and Petan just yet is a little premature. That's a conversation that needs to wait a couple of years yet. My little sister could play wing in Portland and put up four goals surrounded by the rest of the talent on that team.

Now, with that said, have the draft choices not panned out the way we'd like? Absolutely. Folks have laid it all out numerous times before me, so I wont rehash it here.

Read my comments again. I credited hockey fans for showing up due to their love of the sport and not necessarily the success or failure of the team. Sure, hockey has contributed to ShoWare's success. I can't disagree with that.

I agree on the comments on the T Birds and the Sho below, it is not all the T birds fault but I think when they were talking to Kent officials about a arena and them as a anchor tenant that they may have fudged the numbers a bit as far how many people they could draw night in and out. I will say that if this team ever gets it's act together that I think that there is no reason why the local south puget sound area north to the 520 bridge could not pack the Sho every night, if you win and consistantly they will come along with the hard core fans. The SHo and SMG need to get more dates for the Sho but it is competitive with Key Arena, Tacoma Dome, and Comcast in the area.

T-birds didn't fudge any numbers. The City of Kent hired a consultant to do a study on how much revenue the arena would bring into the city. It was the City's own study that came up with the #s in regards to T-birds attendance. The T-birds are drawing exactly what they did their last few seasons at KeyArena. They are just doing it now in a smaller venue, with a more favorable lease where they get a share of the concessions.

So what does our defense look like next year? By my count right now: Theodore, Hauf, Green, Wardley, Wolff. Those guys are all pretty sure things to be here...after that though...Deagle? Elliott? Laroque? Could be short on the blue line, gonna be young for sure.

Trook is a goon. Maybe the Tbirds would be better if they had a 16 year old that is 5'9" and 150 at best that wasn't afraid to step in to protect his goalie. Trook is nothing but another Andrew Peters. Not a hockey player.